European Union – Finance. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling in which it decided that art 4(1)(2) of Directive (EC) 2004/39, read in conjunction with point 1 of Section A of Annex I to that directive, should be interpreted as meaning that the investment service consisting in the reception and transmission of orders in relation to one or more financial instruments did not include brokering with a view to concluding a contract covering portfolio management services.